"In the World Tonight," is an intimate 1997 lesson in studio arts set to the music of Paul McCartney's album Flaming Pie. The cinema verite camera lends initmacy as Paul speaks, sings, plays, and improvises in his music studios, animation studio, and television studio. But the television aspect ratio and light editing of the home-movie styled shots leave Paul in the center of the screen almost all of the time--so the cinematography is a little predictable. In the film you might expect to see the result of Paul having a movie camera follow him around throughout his career. Paul uses relaxed poses around a campfire in a woods, boyish facial expressions and charming movements in his home studio, bright reactions in the television studio, and serious looks in the Abbey Road studio. Voice, song, music, drawing, painting, animation, and architecture all play a part in making this "home movie" of a historic artist stay fresh.

Musicians and artists should like "In the World Tonight" because it gives a close up look at how Paul speaks, sings, plays, composes, draws, or paints in unique home, public, and arena settings. You can see Paul improvise funny songs and sing in his studio and rehearsing or recording with Ringo at home, and you can see him in formally orchestrated recording sessions at Abbey Road Studio and performing before a historic audience of 180,000 people in an arena in South America. The cinema verite film is also a news reel of Paul's life in the mid 1990's. Wife Linda sings informally with Paul in the recording studio, and rides horseback with him in the woods, but she appears in the film to be a more secondary figure than she has seemed after her death, but her appearance could be a major part in the film. In the segment that documents Paul's award of knighthood toward the end of the film, Paul says that knighthood gives you a chance to make your girlfriend a Lady.

Sound: Stereo Region: 4 Running Time: 1 Hour 11 Minutes